Documents / FOIA release

The Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance; the U-2 and Oxcart Programs, 1954-1974

Central Intelligence Agency · 1900-01-01 · 406 pages · text by OCR

This is a 1992 CIA History Staff monograph by Gregory W. Pedlow and Donald E. Welzenbach, originally classified Secret NOFORN and approved for release in 2013. It covers the CIA's manned overhead reconnaissance program from 1954 to 1974 and the two aircraft it developed, the U-2 and the A-12 OXCART. The history covers the U-2 overflights of the Soviet Union, the 1960 downing of Francis Gary Powers and later operations in Asia and Latin America. It also includes a section on U-2s, UFOs and Operation BLUE BOOK.

Open the PDF at page 400 Original source ↗

“RAF”18 pages

  • p. 19 Secret NOFORN Chapter 1 6 RAF Canberra Mark-PR3 division in Baltimore, headed by Lt. Col…
  • p. 36 …In 1952 the Royal Air Force (RAF) began Project ROBIN, which was designed to modify the…
  • p. 106 …The U-2s were to use Lakenheath AFB, an RAF base also used by the USAF…
  • p. 107 …inadvertently penetrated the British radar network, causing RAF fighters to scramble. Afterward the Air Ministry made…
  • p. 122 …twin-engine Canberra bomber, similar to the RAF overflight of Kapustin Yar in 1953. The US…
  • p. 156 …Range for the first time since the RAF's overflight in 1953, obtaining photographs of a…
  • p. 166 …In November 1958, four RAF officers arrived at Detachment B at Adana, thus beginning the United…
  • p. 167 …On 7 February 1958, Bissell instructed the to ask Air Vice Marshal MacDonald if the RAF…
  • p. 168 …MacDonald agreed to Bissell's proposal and began recruiting RAF pilots to fly the U-2…
  • p. 169 …Most flights by the RAF pilots in Detachment B, however, took place in the Middle East…
  • p. 177 …For almost a year, the RAF pilots of Detachment B had been ready to fly over…
  • p. 194 …A four-man unit of RAF U-2 pilots was stationed at Detachment G, Edwards AFB…
  • p. 200 …approval authority for missions conducted by the RAF pilots in Detachment B. The loss of Powers…
  • p. 316 …Project IDEALIST U-2 flying from an RAF facility in Great Britain. The OXCART would fly…
  • p. 332 …1960, the need for British participation lessened. RAF pilots henceforth flew only training or ferry missions…
  • p. 339 …Division PSAC President's Science Advisory Committee RAF Royal Air Force RFP Request for proposal SAB…
  • p. 351 …May 1960 4154 Powers Peshawar B B Tyuratam, Kyshtym, Sverdlovsk; downed by SAM $ ^{a} $ RAF pilot
  • p. 402 …Louis 29 Watertown Strip 57 Watton RAF Base. England 156 "weather plane" cover story 179 weather…
mission 2023

108

mission 2029

124

mission 3086

200

mission 3088

200

mission 3089

201

mission 3091

205

mission 3093

205

mission 3095

205

mission 3098

206

mission 3100

206

mission 4016

124

mission 4018

124

mission 4019

126

mission 4030

133

mission 4154

175

mission 4155

168

mission 6011

144

mission length

199

mission plotting

60

mission programmers

78

missions

59, 75, 82, 87, 106, 114

129, 154, 164, 167, 179

210, 224, 237, 245, 254

322, 336

Nationalist Chinese cre

222

oleostrut

47, 69

operational altitude

77

outrigger wheels

79

overflights

6, 32, 62, 74, 76-77, 84-86, 88-89,

94-98, 100-101, 104-106, 108-111,

114, 116, 122-128, 135, 138-140,

142-143, 146, 148, 152, 154-157,

159, 161-165, 167-168, 170, 172,

180-181, 195-198, 200-201, 205-206,

208, 210-211, 219, 222-226, 228-237,

239-240, 242-244, 249, 253, 257, 259,

294, 297-301, 310, 315-317, 318-320,

322

paint penalty

149

payload

262, 8, 11, 50, 54, 340, 87, 145, 152

peripheral missions

189, 206, 244, 246

phaseout

257, 310

pilot fatigue

199

pilot hypoxia

80

pilot life-support system

64

pilot selection

60, 283

pilot-survival gear

62

pilot training program

75

pilot urination

64

pilots

42, 299, 47, 56, 59-60,62-66, 68-69,

71-77, 79-80, 94, 109, 113-114, 116,

125, 127, 132-135, 140, 148-149, 153-

156, 164, 175-176, 179, 181-183, 186-187

198-199, 207-212, 214, 221, 223-226,

229-230, 233-236, 238-240, 243, 246-248,

250-253, 256, 283, 319, 321, 332, 340

pilots dessicated

65

pitch-control servo device

296

pogos

47, 79, 108

Not linked to a story yet.

About this file

FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. The text was read from the page images by an OCR model; expect the odd misread word. 406 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.